Wanted: Diet and Exercise Motivation

If you look through the few posts I have published over the last few years, you might note that I have obsessed with trying new diets. Although all of my diets start out well enough (I do lose some weight), I ultimately end up quitting before I get anywhere near my goal weight. Although I have the desire to lose some extra pudge and tone up, I just don't seem to care enough to stick with it.

The key to solving this problem is probably figuring out why. After talking to my husband (and everyone who will listen to me blab about it) I think the main reason is that I tend to pick very restrictive diets and insane exercise programs. Hello - Tracey Anderson 30 Day Method (tried and failed), 4 hour body (crashed and burned), P90X (I made it to 60 days and lost 0 lbs), and many more. I will say that all the diets and fitness plans I tried did work, however not for me. They were all not sustainable. For P90X it was hard for me to work our for the required amount of time per day. Additionally, I got really bored with it. With the Tracey Anderson system I lost weight super fast, but when I calculated out the calories content for her meals I discovered that I was eating around 750 calories per day. For me, that is too close to starving to be safe

Since the end of the year is coming I am now getting motivated to try something else. Looking over my past attempts (and failures) I will probably try to pick something less restrictive and more realistic for my schedule and lifestyle. The most weight loss success I have had has been with weight watchers. The catch is with the Winning Points System (circa 2000 ish). Weight Watchers has since replaced this system with Points Plus. I have tried this system and it didn't work for me. I mean I went to the meetings, tracked, and measured my food and basically lost and gained the same five lbs for three months. Some people at my meetings reported having success with the new Points Plus program, however about half of us did not.

I am hoping that Weight Watchers will announce that they are going to launch a new plan (I haven't heard this, but a girl can dream). Let's see if it happens, if not I may just start working out again and can be a toned chubby girl.

Day4 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Day 4 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method 

Down 3 lbs already! So far this diet is working, however I am super hungry. I'm a little concerned that the weight-loss is too fast so I'm thinking of adding some calories to make it 1000. I'm crazy hungry and super tired all of the time. Not sure if I can totally blame the diet portion but around 800 calories seems to low for me.

Today I actually stuck to the program almost 100%, OK for like 80%. Yay me! I'm very proud of myself. For breakfast I had the grapefruit, lunch tofu vegetable soup, and for the dinner the shrimp salad.  I didn't have time to make my snack so I got an odawalla juice.


I did my outlawed jogging (week 5, day 1 of couch to 5K) and my mat work. One problem I'm noticing is that the mat work is getting super boring. I totally dread doing it. I will be glad when the mat work changes on Day 11.

Day 4 - Meals (With My  Variations)

Breakfast - Grapefruit

This is sooo not enough for breakfast. Can we stay starving!!! 

Grapefruit

Lunch - Tofu Vegetable Soup

Yummy! Probably one of my favorite recipes so far. Moreover, it was relatively easy to make.

Tofu Vegetable Soup

Dinner - Shrimp Salad

<y husband was nice enough to make this for me tonight. It was OK. Nothing special. When I make this again will probably make some changes. I would have preferred plain lettuce over the snap peas.

Shrimp Salad

 

Day 3 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Day 3 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method 

I'm not sure if this is real because it seems pretty unbelievable, but I weighed myself this morning and I am now 144.2 which means I lost 2.4 lbs. I'm sure a lot of it is water weight from junk food/salt detox. Whatever the reason I will soooo take it. 

As with the last three days my thought of the day is "HUNGRY!!!!" I have tried sooo many different diets over the year and this is the hungriest I have been by far. As a bonus I am in a total foul mood. My only motivation carrying on to continuing is that I have lost 2.4 lbs in two days. Yee Haw!

Today I pretty much stuck with the Tracy food plan. I had my planned lunch for breakfast which was the minestrone soup. For lunch I knew I was going out so I ordered an egg white veggie omelet with none of the good stuff that I would normally order. I did stray on the snack. I was supposed to have the choco chestnut pudding but didn't have time to make it before I had to pick up my daughter from preschool so I had the my famous Siggi's yogurt. Dinner was poached tilapia with steamed broccoli. And yes as I type this I am dreaming of jumping cupcakes and skipping sugar cookies. 

I have not done a bit of exercise today. I'm about to do the cardio component because in her book Tracy says that for weight loss cardio trumps the mat work. Hopefully tomorrow I will get both the meals and the exercise back on track while writing three (yes 3!) essays for nursing school! But this is day to day life so I need to learn to adapt better.

Lessons from Today:  Hunger makes you willing to do almost anything for a satisfying bite of something delicious! I now truly believe that food can be addictive. Maybe I need food rehab!

Day 3 - Meals (With My  Variations)

 

Breakfast - Tomato Minestrone Soup

This is a repeat for me. It was surprisingly comforting as a breakfast food! May have to switch my breakfast and lunches more often. 

 

Tomato Minestrone Soup

 

Lunch - Egg White Veggie Omelet from The Egg & I

This was really good. I tried to make it as pro Tracy as possible. I asked for little oil to be used and it seemed like they listened. 

 

Veggie Omelet from The Egg & I

 

 

Snack - Siggi's Yogurt Pomegranate & Passion Fruit

Are you noticing a trend here?

 

Siggi's Yogurt Blueberry

 

Dinner - Poached Tilapia with Steamed Broccoli

This was easy to make and really good. Fairly filling although it doesn't fill the cravings that I am having.

 

Poached Tilapia with Steamed Broccoli

 

Day 2 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method

Monday, November 28, 2011

Day 2 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method 

I weighted myself this morning and I am now 146.6. Down 0.2 lbs. Hey, I will take it. Today has been rough in terms of the eating plan mostly due to the error of my own ways. Basically my diet was low in calories and fat but totally not Tracy approved. I woke up late and didn't have time to make my breakfast as I had to drop off my daughter to preschool. So I improvised and had one of my Siggi's yogurts. I realize Tracy wants you to eat the Kefir yogurt, but to me it is yucky. For lunch I met a friend at the uber fab Freebirds which is a local burrito place. I was really good and had a salad with 4 oz chicken, a few black beans, and tomatillo sauce. It was really good, but the temptation was really hard. My snack was a banana and dinner was a lean cuisine. We were actually going to make the turkey burgers tonight but we had a mishap with the food processor. Tomorrow I am striving to plan my day better so that I can eat my correct Tracy meals!

My exercise was actually as written! Yay me! I'm finally following one rule for the day. I did my 20 reps of the sequence one muscle design moves. I also did the dance cardio for 20 minutes with the jumping part included. One frustrating thing I discovered is that each cardio segment is only 10 minutes. So to get the 40 or 60 minutes you are supposed to build up to you have to watch the two cardio segments twice. Hmmmm! Not loving this part so much. Also the black and white DVD really bothers me. During the dance part there are times when the screen suddenly splits into two parts and shows you a move totally not related to the previous move. I'm just doing the best I can. I think I need to order another of her videos as I can see how this will get old quick.

Lessons from Today:  Plan my meals better! Moreover, I need to have some pre-made Tracy food in my fridge or freezer. Tomorrow I have to meet my sister and mother out for lunch. I think the smartest thing to do is to flip-flop my lunch and breakfast. So for breakfast I will have the minestrone soup and for lunch I will have egg whites with veggies. I will tell them little oil and hopefully get the calories down as much as possible. This exercise and diet regimen requires strict planning which is funny because I thought I had already adequately planned. Ha!

Day 2 - Meals (My Totally Non-Tracy Day Variations)

Breakfast - Siggi's Yogurt Pomegranate & Passion Fruit

My improvised non-Tracy breakfast. But it is fat-free and only 100 calories. Plus it has agave nectar as opposed to cane sugar.

Siggi's Yogurt Pomegranate & Passion Fruit

Lunch - Salad with Chicken, Beans, and Tomatillo Sauce from Freebirds

I think this was a smart choice considering the other options that they had.

Freebird's Chicken Breast Salad 

Snack - Banana

This was something I had in the house. The picture shows a bunch but I only ate one. (Or did I??)

Banana

Dinner - Lean Cuisine Cheese French Bread Pizza

This was not a good choice at all! I will readily admit this. However after our debacle with the turkey burgers I had to look for something in the freezer. This seemed the best option of what we had on hand which is mostly kid food.

Lean Cuisine Cheese French Bread Pizza

 

Day 1 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Day 1 - Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method 

My official starting weight is 146.8 which is super high considering that like last week I was 3 pounds lighter! WTF? I'm sure most it is water weight from bloat after my Thanksgiving's Day feast. 

 

Day 1 was definitely a tough day. I did OK with following my menu with some minor modifications because I didn't go to the store until this evening. Breakfast was sweet potato silver dollar pancakes. These were surprisingly filling and took an insane amount of time to make. Lunch was tomato minestrone soup. The snack was supposed to be the choco-chestnut pudding but I didn't get to the store in time so I substituted 100 cal low sugar yogurt. I went off the grid for dinner as well. We went to Ruby Tuesday and I ordered salmon, zucchini, and mashed cauliflower. So I tried my best but need to do much better!

In regards to exercise I did my couch to 5K jogging (Week 4 Day 3 - yay me!) but didn't get to do my muscle design moves. Not to sound all Scarlett O'Hara, but again tomorrow is another day.

 

Like my first attempt at this diet I can tell you that I am HUNGRY! And GRUMPY! My family is ready to vote me off the island. I checked out the calories using my fitness pal and I have eaten only like 866 cals today. Maybe too low but I'm sure that is how you get the super awesome results she talks about. This is a boot camp so it's only 30 days of this. Hopefully I will make it all the way this time and lose the 10-20 lbs I really need to lose. Frankly, I would be thrilled to just go down two sizes. 

 

From my past attempt at this I know that tomorrow will not be easier, but I am hoping to take it one day at a time. I'm thinking (OK praying) that maybe, just maybe after week this diet and exorcize plan will become easier! 

Day 1 - Meals (My Menu Variations)

Breakfast - Sweet Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes (218 cal w/out syrup)

As I mentioned above these took to long to make for a breakfast dish. They were not to bad and were very filling, especially compared to her other recipes which tend to leave me starving. 

 

Sweet Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes

Lunch - Tomato Minestrone Soup (103 cal)

This soup I have made before. I do not personally think it resembles minestrone soup at all. It is really just a veggie soup. It's not bad tasting but the 8 oz serving does not fill me up. 

 

Tomato Minestrone Soup

 

 

 

Snack - Siggi's Blueberry Yogurt (100 cal)

This yogurt is a very lightly sweetened (with agave syrup), high protein  Icelandic yogurt. It took me awhile to get used to the taste, but now I love these! 

 

Siggi's Blueberry Yogurt

 

 

 

 

Dinner - Ruby Tuesday's Salmon (445 cal)

Definitely not on the diet, but I tried to pick the best choice possible. The calories were listed on the menu. Dinner was literally half of my calories for the day.

 

Ruby Tuesday's Salmon

 

 

 

 

Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method - Prep Night (Take 2)

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method - Prep Night

 I bought this book from Amazon.com because I had heard about it in one of my many magazines (I can't remember which one). I had originally bought this from Half-Price Books, but it was missing the DVD and you sooo need the DVD. The reviews were for the most part positive and 30 days seems like a reasonable amount of time to see some real body changes. Most importantly, I can see the evidence of her work in Gwyneth Paltrow who she trains and has a hot body. Listed below is the link on Amazon.com 

http://www.amazon.com/Tracy-Andersons-30-Day-Method-Weight-Loss/dp/B005ZO4V4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322360475&sr=8-1

So now that Thanksgiving is over I am going to officially start my second attempt at Tracy Anderson's 30 day method. I quit pretty early during my first attempt because Thanksgiving was coming up and that was obviously not going to be the best time to start a new diet. Although the holidays are still technically here I'm hoping to lose some serious chub before Christmas. 


Although Tracy says to not make any changes at all to her method I am making a few significant ones. First of all, I will not follow her meal plan exactly as written for the 30 days. It is too hard and seems wasteful as most of the recipes has a yield of two and the repeat for that dish maybe a week or more a way. I am instead opting to chose some daily menu's that I like and repeat those throughout the 30 days.


My second change will be in regards to the cardio component. Jogging is forbidden and you are only allowed to do her dance routine. I'm breaking this rule and will be jogging three days a week for cardio. The main reason for this is that I am half way through the Couch to 5K program app on my iphone. I really want to see if I can finish that.


I am going to spend the rest of this evening planning my meals for week one and making the all important shopping list. Tomorrow morning it is off to the grocery store after my jog (weather permitting).


On to meal planning....

I am attaching a pic of my meal plan. I'm going to see how this works out. As I continue on this journey I am sure I will learn little tricks and tips that will help with this as I am not following her meals exactly.

My Meal Plan for Week One

 

Back to Day One After Thanksgiving!!!

As this is the week of Thanksgiving I have decided to put my 30 day method on hiatus. I plan to start off again the day after Thanksgiving. Although I have been doing OK, I have to be realistic and admit that this holiday it won't happen. So back to day one on Friday!

Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method Day 2

So I weighed myself this morning and I lost 1 pound after one day. YAY!!!! I realize this is probably water weight, but it is still motivating. Despite this day 2 was really hard for me. I am struggling with extreme hunger. I tell my self that this will probably be gone next me once my stomach shrinks. However, all I think about is food, real food not Tracy Anderson food.

Food Portion

As mentioned in an earlier post I am switching some of the days around menu wise. Today I had the mango smoothie for breakfast X 2, puree of broccoli soup, and minestrone soup from a resteraunt. I'm getting tired of the amount of prep and cooking time required to eat on this diet. There aren't any tips (at least that I saw) for when you have to eat out.

Mango Smoothie - was soooo not my favorite. The kefir yogurt made it taste like buttermilk. As I was STARVING, I slurpped it down despite thinking it was gross.

                                                           Breakfast:  Mango Smoothie

Puree of Broccoli Soup - this was my lunch today. Not bad at all. I wish the serving was larger that one cup.

                                                        Lunch:  Puree of Broccoli Soup

                                                            Snack: Mango Smoothie

                                                Dinner:  Minestrone Soup (Dinner Out) 

Exercise Portion

I did the complete exercise regimen today including Tracy's cardio dance. I was able to complete 30 reps (yay me) and plan to increase my reps to 40 tomorrow. The cardio portion was a bit confusing to me. I am so not a dancer (in this life or past ones) so I stumbled through the steps. I'm pretty sure that this improves I continue this boot camp. Only 28 days more to go! (LOL)

Tracy Anderson' 30 Day Method Day 1

I completed day one of the Tracy Anderson method. Well, mostly. I completed the diet with no cheating (which is amazing in itself) and the muscle design sequences. The only variation I did was I jogged as opposed to do her dance sequence cardio. This is forbidden as Tracy says in her book "it's my way or the highway". She says that you must not jog and most only do her cardio during the 30 day boot camp period because jogging can result in bulking. I debated along time about whether to only do her cardio, but I had spent the previous weeks doing the couch to 5K program. Basically I am afraid that if I totally stopped I would lose all of the progress I have made. My compromise is to jog (using couch to 5K) three days a week and using her cardio dance program the remaining days.

The other main change I have made this week in the program is to change around the order of the menu. Tracy forbids making any changes in the food options day to day. However, it seemed wasteful as the recipes often make two portions and the repeat day isn't until several weeks later. As such, I am strictly keeping with the whole menu for a certain day but am changing around the daily menus as I see fit. For example, I am repeating the same daily menus twice this week to save on cooking and food prep time. So Monday and Wednesday I am having the same foods. Likewise for Tuesday and Thursday.

So far this biggest challenge has been hunger. I am STARVING!!!! This morning I had strawberry mint salad which was easy to prepare (thank God!). This was pretty good but not filling enough for me. For lunch it was tomato minestrone soup. This was pretty good tasting, but not the 8 oz serving just wasnt enough. I had choco chestnut pudding for snack and poached cod with asparagus for dinner. The choco chestnut pudding was soooo good despite me not putting any chestnuts in it. At my local store chestnuts are seasonal and won't be in until for a few weeks. The fish was what you would expect with out any added fat.

Today's Menu:

                                                    Breakfast: Strawberry Mint Salad

                                                        Lunch:  Tomato Minestrone Soup

                            Snack: Choco Chestnut Pudding (without chestnuts b/c couldn't find em)

                                              Dinner: Poached Cod and Roasted Asparagus

Tracy Anderson 30 Day Method

After reading rave reviews about Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method I bought the book and am starting dat one tomorrow. unlike most workout and diet regimens this plan offers no flexibility. Tracy says that to get the guaranteed results you must exactly follow her menu plan, muscle work, and cardio seven days a week. I'm going to try my best to stick with the plan. My goal is to get the lean body she is known for! Wish me luck.

Trying to Get Into School

As part of my quest to find a recession proof job I have started to think seriously about going back to school. I have applied for PA school and nursing school. As part of the application process of getting into the accelerated BSN program you must take the TEAS test. I just did this yesterday and already have my results. Of course they are as clear as mud. I got a score of 81.3. According to the test this is in the 90% percentile for the nation. However the average of the students accepted was a 84. I definitely didn't hit it out of the park but at least I'm in the ballpark.

Unemployment Brings Unwanted Side-Effects

As you can probably tell from my previous postings, like most American women I am obsessed with my weight. Despite my best (or not best) attempts I seem to hover around the same weight which is 15 pounds more than I would like to weigh. This problem has only become worse not that I have joined the ranks of the jobless.

At first I thought exercise would be my ticket to finally making it to my ideal weight. Ha! I exercise five days a week most weeks and have not lost an ounce. In fact, I have gained weight. It turns out that having all of this extra time to exercise means that I also have lots of time to eat. And boy do I eat! Junk, junk, and more junk. Hey, I have a 3 year old and the kid food that comes with them. I just happen to have a very unsophisticated palate which means that I like processed foods.

What's the solution? I have no fricking idea! It has been suggested by those who know more than me that my new found love affair with all things packaged stems from the sudden lack of structure in my day. Logically this makes since so my goal is to instill more scheduling my day and to sit down for meals. This means I must say farewell to eating while watching my DVRed shows. Hopefully I can soon say I have the exercise AND the healthful eating down and am on my way to being a skinnier me.

Diet frustrations!

I realize that my attempt to exercise or diet have been a large part of my past blogs. I think this proves that I am a typical American gal. I seem to lose a few, gain a few, and then gain extra! Very frustrating. Tonight was date night and we went to Alamo drafthouse, which is a movie theater that has a resteraunt. I went with all intentions of ordering something reasonable. However, it was not to be. There were no sensible options on the menu,not exaggerating. I ended up getting a pizza and list of guilt. But as Scarlett O'hara says "tomorrow is another day!"

Big Furniture in a Little Room

Although we have been in our apartment for 3 (count 'em) months I have only now become motivated to make this tiny space more homey. First step is rearranging our living/dining room combo. When we saw the model it looked so spacious. Considering we had put the majority of the stuff from our 2856 square foot house in storage we could makes this work!

Ha! My husband and I apparently have no concept of scale because our monster couch is currently taking up 2/3 of the dining room/ living area. To get this monster into our apartment the movers had to hoist up over the balcony. The smallest of our two tables ( which seats 6) is Against one wall.

The plan is to swap the furniture into the two areas. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this works because not tripping over the coach will definitely go along way to making the next six months more bearable.

Completed Week 2 of P90X

Vanity is a good motivator for me. That and shame of course. Because of these two factors I have actually dragged out the ole' P90X workout for a crash-get-in-shape extravaganza. My family is going on a cruise next week so I no that I had to do something drastic or be forever shamed by the super fit people that seem to cruise on the same ship as I.

So far I have mostly stuck with it with the exception of yoga X, my least favorite workout. I just can't stand working out for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I honestly don't know how others do it. So I skipped that this week. As this coming week is my last before the cruise I am pulling out all of the stops and will do the vegan diet low fat diet (Ornish diet), P90X, and Sassy water (flat belly diet). This is especially necessary considering the bargain $17 dress I bought on clearance from Dillards. This bad-boy shows every curve (and incidentally chub roll) and is not forgiving. I will definitely need the spanx and my super sonic crash diet workout plan. With any luck I will triumph.

Trying to Get Used to Being Unemployed

Now that I am no longer taking my summer college classes I am trying to get in the habit of being a stay at home mom/trophy wife. This has been really hard for me because I have essentially worked everyday of my life since I was 17 years old and now I'm not. Let me make this clear, it is not easier to stay at home. In some regards it is harder because I take my child to and from pre-school which is 45 minutes each way and it is still summer. I will find out next week how  much more trafficky it gets when school actually starts. In addition I am doing P90X. Essentially once I finish this and eat lunch it is almost time to pick up my kid.

My hope is that once I get in the hang up stuff I can come up with a more efficient schedule so that I am able to accomplish more. It seems like I got more done when I had a job. Probably because I knew that I had no margin for error and really kept a tight schedule. Hopefully this phase in my life will  come together and I am able to make it all work: housework, shopping, errands, exercise, and child transportation. Millions of moms do this so there is just some missing ingredient that I haven't figured out yet. But, I know I will triumph!

Had An Interview Where They Interviewed Two of Us

As I have mentioned, I am currently unemployed and have been looking for jobs and applying to schools. On Friday I had a job interview which was a bit unorthodox in my opinion. When I showed up and was waiting to be called the other person in the waiting room leaned over towards me and said, "Oh you must be the other girl I'm interviewing with?" My  expression must have told her that I had no idea what is Hades she was talking about because she then explained to me that she had been told this was an interview where they were interviewing two candidates at the same time. Is this normally done? I have never had this experience before and thought it was soooo not kosher. Beyond awkward. What really made me mad is that I had to move mountains to get to this interview, dressed up, filled out another application, and brought my brag book. Would it have been too hard to grant me the courtesy of giving me my own time slot? Moreover, why was this other chick informed about the dual interview while I was not? We will see if they consider me I tried to go with it but I definitely but the top of the salary listing as the lowest I would take so I'm assuming they will go for the less experienced but more flexible gal who isn't me. I want to be compensated for my work. OF course this is still the early stages. In a few months when I get desperate I may have much lower standards.

What To Do With Too Much Shampoo....

Now that I am officially a trophy wife (unemployed) I have taken up couponing as my hobby. I'm not really sure if I am saving money or spending money on a stockpile that will last us for quite a bit. For instance, the most common deals I see are on deodorant, body wash, shampoo, and other personal care items. So I have faithfully clipping my coupons and matching them specials. The result is a stockpile (horde) of these items. It has come to the point that my husband is starting to nicely question whether or not I should buy him any more deodorant, body wash, or shampoo. Surely, a years supply is enough. And of course there is my own stock which includes various brands of shampoo, conditioners, razors, and shaving cream. I have enough shaving cream to last me over a year. And shampoo....I hope I end up like pantene because I have a shelf full which bring up my question...what do you with too much shampoo. To I wash my hair twice daily? But then that would jack with my color which I bought with a $2 off coupon. Or as my hubby suggest donate to charity? And what about the specials that inevitably keep coming up. Its hard to pass on 25 cent shaving cream or 50 cent Pantene but then again I really have more than I can use.

What Do I Want to Do When I Grow Up?

Normally this wouldn't be a strange question until you take in the fact that I'm 34 years old, have a BS, and an MS. When I mention my situation most just look at me like I'm crazy. And to be honest, I'm use to people thinking this. Most common comments include "so what why all the schooling if you weren't sure", "don't worry you'll figure it out", and my favorite "does it matter". If I'm honest with myself there is truth to all of these statements. Why spend so many years in school to decide to try something else? The answer is very complicated. I luv me some Biotechnology, but I don't like working with carcinogens and getting paid really low wages. And for those who think I'm being a snob let me give you an example. I was looking at research jobs in San Antonio. The position I held 11 years ago has the exact same pay listed. Moreover, this pay ends up being around $23,000 per year. Mind you this is a position that requires a degree (preferably a master's degree) and many technical skills.

Right now the best option is to go back to school. Could I make a living as a career student? I have seriously been in school almost continuously my whole life. The longest sabbatical has been the last four years. And yet, here I am again. I'm thinking of going into applying for Nursing School or PA school. Originally I thought PT school. However, I'm currently shadowing PTs right now and I'm not 100% sure. At this stage in the game I think I need only proceed if I'm really sure about this. Unless I want to be a 38 year old who still doesn't know what she wants to do when she grows up.

Good Ole' Coupon Clippin' Katy

Now that I am unemployed I have decided to try out the whole coupon thing. I have always refered to myself as coupon clippin' Katy because I am known to love a deal. And yet, I'm also known for having very expensive taste in handbags. "They" say frivelous. I say fashion investment. Let's just say I have had the same Louis Vuitton for 4.5 years (and probably will for quite a while). But I digress as this has nothing to do with coupons! OK back on subject. So in an effort to save money I have decided to try the whole coupon thing.

Now for the kids at home, it is not possible to get the values and savings seen on A&E's Extreme Coupons. We have essentially one major grocery store chain, HEB, and Super Walmart and Super Target. HEB does not have member cards and do not double or triple coupon values. So my dreams of getting $500 of groceries for $50 is unattainable. So what I have decided to do is try to stick to shopping list and use coupons when I can.

Today I ventured into CVS and used their Extra Care card. I also got some Extra Care bucks. Still unsure if results in true savings because the Extra Care bucks pretty much ensures that you will come back into CVS. Still undecided.